UTSA safety delivers bold outlook on life, WAC

Cody Berry (top left) intercepts a pass intended for Evans Okotcha (rear) as Steven Kurfehs (bottom right) moves in on the play during the 2012 UTSA Football Fiesta Spring Game, Sunday, April 15, 2012 at the Alamodome.

Cody Berry didn't want to go into specifics about the nature of a late-summertime shoulder injury that nearly knocked him out for the season.

“It was just one of those unfortunate things that happened in fall camp,” the UTSA junior safety said. “It's in the past now and I'm ready to move forward.”

OK, so now what? What's the ideal scenario?

“My dream, most importantly, is for UTSA to just shock the world and win conference,” Berry said. “And, of course, like any other player I would like to get all-conference honors. But you know, we're going to have to work for that this season.”

Around the Western Athletic Conference, eyes roll at such brash statements.

But keep in mind, Berry is not adverse to hard work. Also, be advised that he is a player whose long-shot dreams have been coming true ever since he suited up in pee-wee football in New Orleans.

Back then, when he went to sleep at night, he was a Division I athlete, making plays.

Then one late summer morning, when he was 13 years old, he woke up, Hurricane Katrina came, and his life changed.

Initially, Berry didn't think much of it.

He just climbed in the family car.

“Everybody that's lived in New Orleans knows we don't take it that serious unless we're forced to evacuate,” he said. “We really just took what was on our back. We were planning to go back home.”

That never happened. As one of the biggest natural disasters in United States history unfolded in the summer of 2005, the family kept on moving.

Berry and his parents lived in California for a semester of school before settling in the Dallas area.

“A blessing in disguise,” Berry called it.

Playing in a D-I recruiting hotbed, he performed well enough as a senior at Cedar Hill in 2009 to earn a scholarship to Pierce (Calif.) Junior College.

“You look at him, he's got very good size, he runs well and he can hit,” Roadrunners defensive coordinator Neal Neathery said of the 5-foot-11, 200-pounder. “He's got some things you can't coach, like instincts and finishing.”

Berry opened eyes during UTSA's spring drills, moving to the top of the depth chart at rover safety. But as fall camp started, he went down, and coaches were told that he likely was out for the year.

That didn't stop Berry, who pushed through exhaustive drills to stay in shape.

When he wasn't running steps at Farris Stadium, he could be seen off to the side at UTSA workouts, grimacing and sweating and pulling on heavy bands to flex his left shoulder.

Once again, his coaches took notice.

“When you're low on scholarship numbers, it gets thin real fast when you start losing guys,” Neathery said. “So it was good to get him back.”

In his first D-I game last week at Rice, the Roadrunners (5-1, 1-0 WAC) lost 34-14, though Berry nearly had an interception and made a few tackles.

“I'm feeling good,” he said Wednesday. “I was feeling a little bit sore earlier in the week, but the soreness is gone and I'm ready for this next ballgame coming up.”

He's been preparing for this experience since, well, pee-wee football in New Orleans.